To Be a Leader, Get in Your “Discomfort Zone”
In today’s shifting economy, creativity at all levels of the organization is key to business success. Yet creativity involves experimentation, which by its very nature requires going beyond the known, the familiar, and the comfortable. How good are you at venturing into your discomfort zone? How courageous are you? And what can you do to become better and more willing to “put yourself out there?”
Leadership coaches, consultants, and others have counseled the importance of courage and an ability to withstand discomfort—even extreme discomfort. The psychiatrist Martin Groder wrote that “[i]n business and personal life, to create true integrity and lasting effectiveness you need to develop the courage to move towards the sound of the gunfire. Seth Godin makes a similar point in his book Tribes:
Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead. The scarcity makes leadership valuable. If everyone tries to lead all the time, not much happens. It’s discomfort that creates the leverage that makes leadership worthwhile. In other words, if everyone could do it, they would, and it wouldn’t be worth much. It’s uncomfortable to stand up in front of strangers. It’s uncomfortable to propose an idea that might fail. It’s uncomfortable to challenge the status quo. It’s uncomfortable to resist the urge to settle.
Mark Aesch, CEO of a highly successful public bus company in Western New York State and author of the forthcoming book Driving Excellence, observes that there are essentially two kinds of leaders, “survivors” and “succeeders.” Survivors are reluctant to undergo any kind of discomfort. Concerned mainly with protecting their own featherbed, they tend to foster the status quo in organizations. Succeeders are those relatively rare individuals who “open the front doors, invite in the infidels, and let them into the innermost part of the castle.” Unlike mere survivors, succeeders constantly push themselves and their organizations to enter uncomfortable places, to go above and beyond, to pioneer, innovate, adapt and build. Being a succeeder is a more difficult and lonely path, but it offers great rewards.
So how do you push yourself to undergoing discomfort at work? What can you do in your personal life to develop a “succeeder” mentality? We asked Mr. Aesch and a few others for tips and strategies, and here’s what they suggest:
- Make A Daily Practice of Breaking with Familiarity. Linda Handel, a cognitive therapist in Providence, RI, counsels her patients to experiment with “pattern interrupts” so as to become accustomed to discomfort. For instance, if you normally eat with your right hand, spend a week eating with your left hand. Will Burns, CEO of the ideation firm Ideacicle, periodically rearranges the furniture in his house. As Burns explains, “It makes the room feel totally fresh and new again, even if it’s unfamiliar and uncomfortable. These kinds of things constantly keep me on my toes during the day, which makes it easier for me to put myself out there at work.”
- Pay Close Attention to How You Feel. Sometimes we fall into patterns of routine and excessive comfort without even realizing it. So ask yourself, do you really feel charged up and alive? Are you too comfortable in your job? Do you feel like you always pretty much have things “under control”? Burns remarks: “I don’t feel alive unless I can feel the limits or edges. It’s evidence that you’re exposed, that you’re learning and growing.” One Council member moved from a comfortable position close to home to a two-year assignment in Asia.
- Take On New Personal and Professional Challenges: Aesch advises that we think about areas in which we’re weak, and then take on fun challenges that lean into those weaknesses. “I can’t swim very well, but I’ve taken on this personal quest to swim across a local lake every year to develop my personal succeeder mindset. I’ve done it now five years in a row.” On the professional side, if you were a firm with a successful business, would you blow up the model and take a short term hit for the possibility that a new model would lead to even greater rewards? I’ve seen it work.
- Try Things You’ve Never Done Before: One art world executive we interviewed makes a practice of trying one new thing—tennis, ballroom dancing, public speaking, etc.—every month. Aesch likewise picked up meditation and guitar for the first time, in part with an eye toward becoming more adept at handling discomfort at work. In our own industry, Peppercom’s Steve Cody can tell you how uncomfortable — but fulfilling — stand-up comedy can be.
- Develop A Support Network of Other People Who Are Also Succeeders. Putting yourself out there is tough, so it can help to surround yourself with others who are in the same position. Professional groups such as the Young Presidents Organization, and yes, the Council of PR Firms can help, and you can also try to connect with other succeeders in your own organization.
One of the Council’s primary missions is to help train the leaders of tomorrow. As an industry, we need to cultivate leaders who can thrive in a dynamic, unpredictable market. Having led a PR firm myself, and today interacting with many current and next generation leaders, I understand how time spent in the discomfort zone can help make you stronger. Don’t just survive; succeed!
Another great blog, Kathy. And, thanks for the shoutout. I also do something else that purposely causes discomfort. Each and every year, I do a full-day job swap. So, I’ve worked as a junior AE in New York and as an AE in London. This year, I’m becoming our Manhattan receptionist for a full day. These job swaps take years off my life but open my mind to what our younger people experience and, critically, what clients and prospects experience from Peppercom. I’d challenge each and every one of the agency CEOs who read your blog to do the same thing, especially the ones from the Top 10 firms. Andy: I want to see you manning Weber’s reception desk one day soon.
Nice piece, Kathy — “discomfort” also forces boredom and repetition to be replaced with excitement and passion …
[...] you even know how to answer this question? An article from the Council of Public Relations Firms discusses how to become a leader — and in order to do so, you have to experience discomfort. [...]
Excellent piece Kathy. One of the great causes of discomfort among agency leaders whose firms are not where the owner wants it to be, is understanding that if you’re not part of the problem there is no solution. It’s tough enough to answer the question: “what do I have to change about myself?” It’s is even tougher to begin to make those changes. i call it getting out of your comfort zone and it is a key attribute of successful agency leaders i know and have worked with.
Thanks for the specific examples. It’s helpful to hear how others are shaking things up. With the speed of change we are experiencing, “status quo” can be a death knell. George, you raise a good point about the difficulty of changing yourself; makes Steve’s idea of job swapping all the more interesting.
Great article. This is good advice both in the PR world and in our everyday lives. In public relations we are always talking about building relationships with customers and creating unique positions in society to establish communication between people. The more creative we can get, the more we will be able to reach out to our publics. All of the suggestions you give are great first steps to becoming more creative in our personal lives as well as our professional lives.
Smart thinking Kathy! I spent 2010 exploring my “Discomfort Zone” on Twitter i.e. coming up to speed, and found it to be an amazing and very rewarding opportunity. The learning and leaders I met will endure a lifetime! @DebWeinstein